According to The Hollywood Reporter, Columbia is resurrecting the property with the franchise extending beyond a direct-to-video sequel existence if all things go swimmingly. Brilliant Dutch weirdo Paul Verhoeven originally turned Robert A. Heinlein’s military science-fiction tale into a movie in 1997 starring Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards and Neil Patrick Harris. The satirical bite and general awesomeness of the film earned Starship Troopers a cult following, although it’s unclear if the new version can weave the same sort of magic.

Baywatch (the movie, not the TV show or Jonathan Franzen novel) scribes Mark Swift and Damian Shannon have been tapped for the motion picture high-profile rebirth. This particular go-around will still feature Johnny Rico squaring off against space bugs, but in a way that’s closer to the book than Verhoeven’s adaptation. For what it’s worth, Verhoeven’s previously spoken out about how previous updates on his films miss the mark, so Swift and Shannon have his advice at their disposal if they’d like to use it. Heck, a director hasn’t even been sorted out yet if they think Verhoeven would be game for it.

What do you think of Hollywood taking another crack at Starship Troopers? Share your thoughts (and director recommendations) in the comments.

Loved the book and the movie, and for quite different reasons. If they’re gonna stick closer to the book, though, it’s much more serious in tone. I don’t know about no Baywatch writers on this. As for a director, can we give it to Joon-Ho Bong? That’d be interesting.

Ok, every time Hollyweird wants to get their greasy mitts all over a Verhoven classic, they always fuck it up! Total Recall? Utter garbage. RoboCop? Complete shit. How about they stop remaking, rebooting, and generally crapping all over great films from the past, and give us something original!!!!!